Wow, so helpful Corry.  Great work.  

Hi @Brewski 

I apologise if I sounded glib, but I was serious. As I mentioned in later post, “We recommend you either leave it on charge until you take it somewhere, or power off when you take it off charge until you wish to use it. Sleep mode isn’t intended to preserve as much battery charge as possible, but to preserve some when not actively in use that would be lost otherwise.” I should have mentioned that in my reply to you, however.

I understand, I did read the whole chain before becoming involved, but nothing has worked including the 5 second hold.  I’ll fully charged mine, then held power for 5 seconds to fully power down and it appeared to...next morning I was at 35%.  

Just to clarify, it was off the charger overnight before you checked it the next morning?

Correct.  Set it up, charged to 100%, used it over the course of one day down to below 10% (worked great in both Wifi and Bluetooth), charged it up to 100%, held power for 5 seconds and put away.  Grabbed it the next day and it was ~35%.  I’m planning on removing from system and setting up again.

Hi @Brewski 

In that case, please get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to analyse the figures and come to a solution for you.

Will do, thanks.

Same feeling here. I was expecting a portable device that does not need to be plugged in … Very disappointed. I wish they update it with on option for the use many of us have. 

Hellbat...I was still having the same issue yesterday afternoon where my Roam was still losing battery after the 5 second hold to turn “Off”.  However, I removed the device from my system and set it back up again from the beginning.  Now my Roam is functioning as its supposed to...if I fully charge it, then unplug and hold power button for 5 seconds, it will fully shut off until I manually turn it back on.  Tried it this morning and it was at 99%, seems to be working correctly now.  

Sounds like Sonos needs to update their software.   When I long press the power button to turn off the Roam it either goes into Bluetooth pairing mode, or goes off and comes back on in the bluetooth pairing mode.  After trying multiple times it will eventually go off and stay off.  Far too hard to turn off.

The SONOS app has been closed and not used during these issues.  Connected to wifi, not Bluetooth.

But can we get a change put in place so that simply accessing the Sonos App for my other 5 Sonos speakers throughout the day, doesn’t wake the Roam from sleep mode?  That “feature” is draining the battery unnecessarily-- but I want it in sleep mode many times (rather than always power it off) so I don't have to physically engage with the Roam necessarily to use it.  

So there should be a software button/toggle to wake the Roam via the app, but ONLY when I want to -- not EVERY time I use the app (which could be for the many other aspects of my Sonos system). 

Remember, there IS a home use case for the Roam, not just taking it somewhere else.   My use is the bathroom (not taking it outside).   But the way Sonos implemented the sleep/wake aspect doesn't really work in the home use scenario -  (with the app always waking it even if you are just using other parts of your Sonos system).   Can that be fixed -- pretty please?

Will there be a fix for this? I love the Roam and I love using it on my deck. With the power turning on without my knowledge every time I want to use it I have less than 10% charge.  I have to plug it in to use it, which defeats the purpose. 

I’m going to have to return it for something else if there isn’t a fix or a work around on this.

Cory - you’re part of Sonos Staff and that’s the best you can do? I was always impressed with support from Sonos unit I read your remark. You obviously don’t grasp what is upsetting everyone. We turn it off and it turns back on and drains itself, making it a useless portable device when we want to use it. Thanks for your complete lack of help and understanding. 

Corry, I think you are missing the point.  The point is, in sleep mode (which is a valid mode to use), the Roam wakes up when you engage the Sonos App, even if you don’t wish to use the Roam at that time.  And many people want the Roam in this state (sleep mode), so it can be activated as needed for use in the house -- just not EVERY time you use the app.  If you have many other Sonos speakers and engage the app throughout the day, this causes unnecessary drain on the Roam (while in sleep mode).

Yes, you can totally power it off (and I think some people are having trouble doing that for some reason - the design of the power button likely the culprit here, as its hard to tell when its engaged), but that is not the answer for excessive waking while in sleep mode.  There should be a software fix for this, so use of the app doesn’t ALWAYS wake the Roam (unless you want it to do so).  Please discuss this fix with the engineers.    Thanks!  

Hi Everyone!

First, I want to reiterate what has already been explained here on this thread:

• When using WiFi, the Roam will always use some power whether on or sleeping. We recommend you leave it charging when connected to WiFi.
• The Roam, once turned off, should not turn on again spontaneously unless you charge it - if your Roam turns itself on from an Off state without being connected to a charger, please contact technical support.
• The battery life of the Roam can vary according to some factors (like router settings, temperature or distance), but if you feel your battery is draining faster than it should, please contact technical support. 
• Sleep mode is intended to save some battery power, not reserve all of it for when you take the Roam out. If your Roam is not going to be charging immediately before you take it somewhere, turn it off.

The Roam is a Sonos speaker, first and foremost. It has the option to run Alexa or Google Assistant and maintains a WiFi connection - unlike every other Bluetooth speaker out there with the exception of the Move - and thus uses more power than a typical portable BT speaker.

It is a new product, however, so issues are going to happen, at least for some. This is why, if you’re not satisfied, we’d very much like you to contact our technical support team. The Roam logs many details about it’s power mode, battery levels and other information - we can tell if it’s not performing as expected and then move on to a solution for you. If we don’t have a number of cases reporting such issues, and data collected from them, we can’t move forward to resolving them.

The majority of the posts here on this thread were describing battery drain using sleep mode, which is expected (though shouldn’t be excessive) and not likely to change, as people expect certain things from their Sonos system, of which a Roam is a part. Those experiencing a Roam that is Off turning On (when not connected to a charger), or an Roam that is Off draining it’s battery are outside cases and should really, as I have said, get in touch with technical support - and I do apologise to those who are experiencing this and read my earlier remark, but in the vast majority of cases, sleep is often confused with Off (we went through all of this with the Move too).

I really cannot reiterate enough that if you are unhappy with the Roam battery performance, please get in touch with technical support - they have the tools to ascertain if there’s a problem, or just a misunderstanding.

@Corry P , Sonos claim a battery life of upto 10 days when in sleep mode for the Roam.  Is that in a scenario where it is in a location with other Sonos speakers but neither they nor the App are never used?  As the drain while in proximity to an activated Sonos App appears to be far in excess of 10% a day, what is the environment the Roam would need to be in in order to get this Standby life?  If it's not near other speakers, users may as well fully power off instead and get much less drain?

Hi @sjw 

The important point here is “up to”. The actual battery life (each charge, not the total lifespan) depends on a lot of factors, but one of the most important is battery temperature. Another is - yes - app and other speaker activity. Even the IP address lease time set on your router has an effect. Much like the quoted fuel efficiency of a car or the battery life of a laptop, the figure quoted is an upper limit - you will not see it go beyond the quoted figure, and the quoted figures generally rely on ideal conditions. 

I don’t currently know the specific conditions under which the “10 days” figure was reached, but I can reach out and try to find out.

If you power off your Roam, the battery’s charge will last a lot longer, but it will not react to the app and needs physical interaction to turn on (button press or charger connected). Therefore sleep mode is for when you want to be able to play music to the Roam without touching it, but there is a power price to pay for this functionality - how can it react to the app without a functioning WiFi connection and CPU usage?

Personally, I would suggest the following:

• If you’re not near a power supply (and therefore probably not near WiFi either), you should turn your Roam off when not using it - there’s no advantage to having it sleeping in this situation, other than how quickly you can get it playing again.
• If you are near a power supply, (and therefore possibly connected to WiFi), you may as well charge it so you have maximum playing time for later, when there is no power. There is no direct connection from the USB socket or the Qi induction coil to the battery - the charging is controlled by software and you will not damage your Roam or it’s battery by leaving it on charge.
• When you’re out and about, and are stopping playback and putting your Roam in your bag, for example, but plan on using the Roam again soon, put it to sleep so the buttons don’t get pressed by objects in your bag and so you don’t need to wait for it to boot up again when you bring it back out. As it’s a short time, the power usage difference between sleep and off will be negligible, compared to the convenience of being able to get it playing again in a few seconds.

Can you address the issue of the Roam waking from sleep mode when using the app?  It seems like this is causing unnecessary battery drain in sleep mode (yes it could be powered off- but there are disadvantages to that).   

it seems there should be a way to use the app for my many other Sonos products, and not wake the Roam.   Will Sonos make this software change?  Give users a choice as to whether to wake Roam or not via the app (when in sleep mode)?  And let’s assume for this conversation that sleep mode (NOT power off)- is desired.   
 

Hi @caesar327,

As I’ve already stated in your other thread, I’ve passed your feedback and suggestions on to our development team for consideration. We don’t comment on our roadmap, so I don’t have anything to share regarding if, or when this feature will be implemented. Your concerns have been heard and noted.

I’m having the same issue , I got mine a few days ago, I keep thinking I am turning it off but then after a while the white light comes back in . I went to use it this morning after being at 100% yesterday and it was completely drained. It’s now lost 20% over half a day . This is absolutely ridiculous. Sonos reckon on standby it will last around 10 days but I can’t see this happening  we should be able to charge and be ready to pick up and go without charging everyday . I’m very disappointed I the roam for this. I thought maybe I was not turning off properly and came to see if I could find an answer and found this thread.  .. has anyone found a answer to the problem? It is driving me mad keep turning itself back on. I don’t want it on standby permanently, I have other options for getting the weather etc. I just want to charge the roam , turn off and be ready to turn on when I want to take it outside. Surely that’s the point of a portable speaker. 

I’m struggling how to turn it off . If I press once it goes to sleep mode if I press snd hold a few seconds it goes in to blue light mode. 

Keep the power button pressed until you hear the ‘descending’ power-off tone about 5+ seconds

Is there a sweet spot as if I hold it, briefly it goes in sleep mode , too long it shows the blue light 

I think the more you use the Roam buttons, the more they become second nature… here is a video review of the Roam, which if I recall correctly, explains the button presses and features:

https://youtu.be/29w2rGVs5X4

It should turn itself back off after a short time if it isn’t being used instead of just staying on until the battery is dead